Creative Q&A: TBWA Korea's Syngwook Park is in the hot seat

How did you get into advertising?
I had two job interviews on the same day in 1997. One to become a flight attendant and the second to be a copywriter.

I’m here [in adveriting] and I still miss my beautiful coworkers-could-be [in the airline].

What was your first ever ad?
Vacuum cleaner, telephone and refrigerator for newly married couples.
(Yes, three items together in special bargain)

Which ad do you wish you’d made?
Nike campaigns by Kash Sree.

What was your worst job ever?
I don’t want to talk about that shit. Thank you to my client for not putting me in jail.

What qualities do you look for in a prospective employee?
I’ve never seen people with a slave like loyalty and princess like appearance. So no big deal. Totally understand what I’m thinking at a glance will be good. Instant ideas too.

Where do you go to be inspired?
Spend 15 minutes at the library on the seventh floor, find it's useless and a waste of time and come back to my desk.

Who do you consider to be a creative genius?
Charles Darwin of course. It’s not easy to make a campaign policy restricted to a single product but he made a global impact for centuries with his ideas which no client can afford to neglect. 

If you were not working in advertising, where would you work?
Of course I would go back to my beautiful colleagues-could-be without hesitation.

What is your guilty pleasure?
Sorry, but it’s an illegal thing, you know.

What would you like to be in a next life?
One life is hard enough.

What is your favourite word?
‘Serene’.  Everytime I think about this word my mind clears.

What is the first thing you do when you wake up?
Reading anything I can catch, like shampoo bottles or cereal ingredients, instructions for electronics anything. 

Worst haircut you’ve ever had?
Jackson-like perm when he was in the Jackson Five. My mother said, "Just get out of my house!"

What’s your favourite song lyric?
‘Shape of my heart’ by Sting